People buy robot vacuum cleaners to make their daily cleaning easier and effortless. But standalone robot vacuums have a small dustbin, which is good for a few cycles but it does require human intervention regularly to empty. And emptying the onboard dustbin on a robot vacuum cleaner can become a tedious task if you have a lot of carpets, dusty floors, or pets, since these inherently attract more dirt and dust. The Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum with its auto-empty station means that you only need to change the dust bag about once per month, which is good news for people who cannot do it on the daily. The robot vacuum also has a decent-sized water tank if you want to sweep and mop your floors at the same time too.
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The Botslab two-in-one robot vacuum and mop automates the tedium of your daily cleaning routine
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Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus: Pricing and availability
Botlsab is the new brand name for the 360 range of robot vacuums and the branding has not settled across all online stores. Currently, Botslab only seems to deliver two products, a robot vacuum, and a smart camera. However, the Smart360 brand offers a range of well-performing robots across a range of prices. The Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus is a mid-priced robot offered for sale. It is available from Amazon at $499.99
| Specifications | Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | L*W*H 340*340*95 mm (13.4*13.4*3.7 inches) |
| Rated Voltage (V) | 14.8 V |
| Rated Power (P) | 30 W |
| Battery (mAh) | 5000 mAh |
| Working Time (min) | 250 | 210 | 140 | 110 |
| Suction (Pa) | 600 | 1000 | 1500 |2700 |
| Dust Bin (L) | 0.35 L |
| Water Tank (L) | 0.3 L |
| Noise (dB) | 59 | 61 | 63 | 65 |
| Obstacle Climbing | 20 mm (0.79 inches) |
About this review: This review was written after testing a Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus for a period of three months, provided by the company. Botslab did not have any input in this article.
Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus: What’s in the box?
The Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum comes in one large box containing everything you need to get started. There is the robot vacuum cleaner with an onboard dustbin and water tank, an auto-empty station, a mop bracket, and a mop pad. There is also a spare dust bag, a roller cleaning tool, a brush, and a user manual.
To use the robot vacuum cleaner, connect the auto-empty station to your power supply, remove any packing from behind the bumper and film from the robot vacuum, switch on the power to the robot vacuum and place it on the auto-empty station to charge. You also need to press the power switch on the top of the robot vacuum if this is not already on. The robot will announce that it is charging in an irritatingly friendly voice. There should be a white LED light on the auto-empty station to indicate power to the station.
The Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum bundle contains everything you need to get started with automated cleaning and mopping – all controlled by an app.
You can start the robot by using the switch on the top of the robot and send it home by another switch – but to get the best out of the NaviClean S8 Plus, install the Botslab app and configure your preferred settings.
Design and features
A robot vacuum and auto-empty station that can be controlled by an app and which integrates with Alexa, Siri, and Google Home.
- Simultaneous mopping and vacuuming
- Comprehensive app
- Multi-map management
- 2D and 3D map views
- Room division and no-go zones
The Botslab NaviClean S8 plus is simple to pair with the app on your mobile phone. Download the Botslabb app and create a user account. Scan the QR code in the user manual or search for the robot vacuum on the list of devices to connect to.
The app will connect to the robot over a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (most smart apps work best over a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection). The app saw the robot and quickly connected without issues.
Fully featured app
The app has a lot of configurable features for the NaviClean S8 Plus. You can configure the app to get the robot to clean a room, the whole house, or simply an area. You can specify whether you want to clean the area once or twice, set no-go zones, and divide a room. You can specify how much water you want to use when the mop module is installed and set whether you want the robot vacuum to mop, vacuum, or vacuum and mop.
Customized settings
You can further customize the app for fully automated cleaning. You can specify the do-not-disturb time so that the robot will not operate during this period. You can specify that the robot increases suction power when crossing any carpet it detects and turn the button light off if you think that the robot light is too bright.
You can set a range of different schedules for cleaning specifying if you want the robot to clean daily, on weekdays, weekends, or once only, and what time you want cleaning to start. You can also specify which area or room to be cleaned – or set the cleaning for the whole house.
When the robot is operating, you can change the schedule, pause, change settings or send the robot back to its charging station. You can even use your mobile device as a remote control to send the robot to a specific area to clean.
Minor irritation: The voice chime is annoying
The biggest irritation for me is the over-cheerful, saccharine sweet voice of the robot. It sounds like an over-enthusiastic sales assistant desperately wanting to make a sale. If I paused the cleaning cycle and restarted it, the robot would announce “Cleaning makes me happy!” whilst setting off. I wanted to stamp on it. Fortunately, you can change the volume of the voice notification. However, if you turn the voice down by too much, you will not be able to hear it cheerily announce “ I’m here!” when you tap the ‘find robot’ icon.
Who should buy a Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum?
- Buy a NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum if you want to have two-in-one sweeping and mopping
- You should buy this robot vacuum if you hate emptying the on-board dustbin every couple of days
- Buy the Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum if you like to manage the vacuum cleaner via a fully featured app
There are other robots for sale at a similar price point. However, if you bought a Yeedi Vac 2 Pro at a similar price, you would additionally have to buy an auto-empty station at an additional cost. If you have mainly carpet in your home, consider buying a robot vacuum with higher suction power such as the Dreame Bot D10 which has 4000Pa suction power.
Other brand leaders offer competing products at similar price ranges. Neither the Roborock Q5 for $429.99 nor the Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI for $499.99 has an auto-empty station making the Botslab good value if you like to buy the entire unit as a bundle.
Why I like the Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum
I found the Botslab NaviClean S8 Plus robot vacuum easy to connect to the app and configure the cleaning and mopping patterns to suit my living patterns. Floor mopping is reasonable for daily mopping although once in a while, I had to resort to manually scrubbing the floor to remove ingrained dirt before continuing with the daily mopping.
The NaviClean S8 Plus is not the cheapest robot vacuum you can buy. But with its auto empty station and large capacity dust bin, for hands-off cleaning and minimal intervention, it is certainly worth a look
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A two-in one sweeping and mopping robot vacuum cleaner with a long battery life and a large capacity auto-empty station